Brazil's primary surplus melts in challenge to Rousseff

Brazil posted its biggest monthly deficit ever in September, underscoring a rapid deterioration of the fiscal accounts that poses the biggest challenge to newly re-elected President Dilma Rousseff's efforts to regain investor trust. For September, the government posted a primary deficit of 25.491 billion reais ($10.39 billion), its fifth straight monthly gap, it said on Friday. That put Brazil at risk of ending 2014 with its first annual primary deficit in nearly two decades.
The numbers reveal a deterioration in the government's accounts that is worse than markets had feared and will make Rousseff's task harder as she tries to convince investors she will change her policies and put Brazil's fiscal house in order.